Fire-extinguisher for cars



(No Mode-1.)

J. BERG. Fire Extinguisher for Cars.

No. 229,854.. I Patented July 13, I880.

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"UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN BERG, OF GRINNELL, IOWA.

'FIRE-EXTINGUISHER FOR CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,854, dated July 13,1880.

' Application filed June 1, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known thatI, JOHN BERG, of Grinnell, inthe county of Poweshiekand State of lowa,

. haveinvented certain Improvements in Fire- Extinguishers forRailway-Oars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that-class of devices that are designed to becombined with a stove or car-heater in a car to prevent the dangers andaccidents and lossof life and property-incident to the use of stoves andheaters in railway-cars.

H'eretofore reservoirs filled with water have been connected with astove in a car in such a manner that when the car is thrown out of itsnormal level position on the track a valve that restrained the waterwould be automatically opened by force of gravity, to allow the water toescape from the reservoir and to deluge and extinguish the fire in thestove while the car inclined laterally relative to the track. Myapparatus, patented April 6, 1880, No.

i 226,220, also provides for deluging the fire in the stove when a carbecomes inverted or is turned-upon end, as frequently occurs in thebreaking of bridges, by forming and combininga stand-pipe reservoirhaving a horizontal branch witha car and a stove or heater in such amanner that it will be operative when- -ever the car is placed in anyabnormal position whatsoever; but the automatic device used for openinga valve and flooding the fire was connected with the vertical portion ofthe stand-pipe only by means of a single conduit, and incapable ofemptying the reservoir completely or quickly.

The object of my improvement is to discharge the water more rapidly andcompletely and my inventionconsists in connecting the horizontal branchportion of the reservoir with the stove by means of vertical conduits,as hereinafter fully set forth.

The drawing represents a section of a car containing my improvedapparatus, and illus trates its construction, application, andoperation.

A is the'main portion of my stand-pipe reservoir, fixed in averticalposition in the corner of the'car. 1t, may be cylindrical or angular,and formed in the wall of the car, or attached' thereto in any suitableway. It is preferably made of boiler-iron, and may vary in size, asdesired. 1

B is a branch extending horizontally from the top portion of thevertical part A. 0 represents a stove or car-heater fixed to thecarfioor in a position contiguous to the reservoir A and underneath itsbranch B. d is a horizontal tube connecting the reservoir with avertical tube and the stove. fis a valve in that end of the tube thatenters the reservoir. y is a valve-stem that extends inward through thetube d. his a lever pivoted to the tube and flexibly connected with theend of the stem inside of the tube to open and close the valve. 1' is aspring attached to the upper end and longarm of the lever hin such amanner that it will, in its normal condition, exert its force to openthe valve f. is a tube extending from the top of the stove O to thebranch B of the stand-pipe reservoir. f is a valve in its top end. Ithas a stem, g, the lower end of which is connected with a pivoted lever,71..

h is a lever pivoted to the wall or other suitable support in such aposition relative to the lever it that its end bent downward at rightangles will engage the top end of the said lever h. m is a cup-shapedplatform composed of two distinct parts, one part of which is rigidlyconnected with the upper end of the lever h and the-other part with theend of the lever h. n is a ball-weightresting upon the sectionalcup-shaped platform min such amanner that its force of gravity will,when the car is in a level and normal condition, be transmitted throughthe levers h h h" to the valves.

f and f and hold them closed; and when the car is thrown into anabnormal position the ball will be displaced from the platform, and thevalves will be automatically opened, the one in the horizontal tube bymeans of the spring 43 and the one in the vertical tube by the pressureof the water in the branch B of the reservoir. By thus combining thevertical part of .the reservoir and also the horizontal part with thestove two distinct valves in two distinct conduits are operated by meansof one weight to allow the water to flow more rapidly into the stove, asrequired, to deluge the fire when an accident occurs to throw the carintoan abnormal position.

k is a second vertical tube connected with the horizontal branch B ofthe stand-pipe reservoir and the stove C by means of the first verticaltube, k. f is a valve in the top portion of the tube It". g is avalve-stem extending through the vertical tube. A cupshaped platform atits top end retains a ballweight to keep the valve closed by downwardpressure as long as the car is in a normal position. A spring at thelower end of the stem opens the valve by upward pressure when the car isin an abnormal position and the ballweight at the top of the stem isdisplaced. The ball-weights are secured by means of chains. so that theyWill readily return to their cup shaped platforms when the car isreturned to a level position on the track.

I claim as my invention- 1. The stand-pipe reservoir A B, the stove orcar-heater C, the horizontal tube 07, having valve f, the vertical tubek, having valve f, the levers h h h", the spring 2', the sectionalcup-shaped platform m, and the ball-weight 11, arranged and combinedsubstantially as shown and described, to operate in the manner setforth, for the purposes specified.

2. The reservoir A B, the stove or car-heater (J, the vertical tubes kand k, the valve f", the stem g, having a cup-shaped platform at its topto support a ball-weight, and liftingspring at its lower end, arrangedand combined to operate substantially as and for the purposes shown anddescribed.

JOHN BERG.

Witnesses:

R. G. ORWIG, FRANK W. HEEBS.

